Monday, June 29, 2009

Here is the final round from the East-West tournament in early June. We were invited to judge, but had some difficulty with the format. Here are some things to keep in mind as you watch the clip.

1. The clip begins with the entry of the 11 judge final round panel. Everyone stands up and applauds them, and as they come in they distribute copies of their judging philosophies to the debaters. This gives the debaters only a few minutes to make adaptations in strategy. There is a short moment of polling of the judges by the Negative team in Japanese, and the judges raised their hands to indicate their agreement with the statements.

2. Yes, the debate is in English! In Academic debate (what the Japanese call policy debate) the pronunciation of words has its own very difficult accent. The judges and the participants have developed their own pronunciation for English words over the years. They told me that we might have trouble understanding because the competition often favors "Japanese-English" - which is what they call this way of speaking. I have great difficulty understanding most of these speeches. I don't think Academic Debate is very interested in teaching English speaking so much at this level, similar to how policy debate has little interest in teaching good public speaking skills in the U.S.

3. Topicality is a challenge to a debate over definitions. It has little to do with the plan. Academic debate is pretty lacking in theory debate. Everyone is a hypo tester, and the T argument challenges the Aff to a battle over interpretation of words. That's why the second T violation sounds so strange - she basically reads definitions for half the resolution, so it's multiple challenges in one. The Aff handles it pretty well in the 2AC by lumping it as a debate about the meaning of "Japanese Government."

4. Counterplans claim mutual exclusivity, but what they really mean is resolutional competition. That is, you can't endorse the resolution and the counterplan at the same time. More like a counterwarrant that has just crawled up on the beach from the primordial sea than a modern counterplan.

5. At the end is every policy debater's dream - the chairperson asks "Is there any appeal from the Negative?" - After the 2AR the Negative is given one last opportunity to appeal to the judges, especially indicating new arguments in the 2AR. Amazing. Rarely do Negative teams invoke this opportunity, I was told.

6. I love the fact that they have people coloring in boxes of chalk on the board to indicate prep time use! Gives it a very game-show feel don't you think?

The processing of videos is slower than I thought it would be, sorry for the slowness. This is a good debate to start with though. The last debate on the final day of the tour versus Sophia University was a huge suprise. First, it was in an intimate, private setting with only 5 observers, all of whom participate in the Japanese policy format they call "Academic Debate." Secondly, it was the most American styled policy debate that happened on the tour. This was very surprising to me as the debate seemed very familiar. Finally, this debate really highlights some of the differences in Japanese "academic debate" and U.S. "policy debate." The major difference is that academic debate accepts hypothesis testing as the only way to make a decision in a round. This becomes a nice moment of cultural communication between the teams over the counterplan in this round.

The topic was That the Japanese Government should encourage companies to introduce equal pay for equal work.

Our goal is to make at least 50 lectures from the summer available for freeby August 1st. We also wish to add at least 50 lectures and lecturesdiscussions for our subscribers. If you would like to make a contribution,please email me by responding to this message.

Also, please consider supporting our site by purchasing a subscription oradvertising package (subscription included with the advertising package).Advertisers & workshop partners receive banner ad displays, email blasts,listings on our Camp Poverty Topic Coverage page -- a page has had more than1,200 views in less than a week. Across our site, 30-40,000 pages are viewedevery day, and more than 27,000 files have been downloaded from our sitesince May 6, 2009.

We're delighted to revive the tradition of the Georgetown Debate Institute this summer. Hundreds of students and instructors fondly recall their intense summers along the banks of the Potomac. Georgetown's commitment to pedagogy and proximity to the intellectual and cultural resources of the capital created a unique environment that shaped a generation of policy debaters. The opportunity to revisit that legacy both excites and humbles us.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

You can see the best high school speakers and debaters live on your computer.

On Friday 19 June 2009 there will be a live webcast of a number of events from the National Forensic League's national speech and debate championship tournament from the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Concert Hall in Birmingham, Alabama.

The NFL Nationals is the largest speech and debate tournament in the world, with well over 5000 people attending. Competition will last all week leading up to Friday.

The Bickel & Brewer/New York University International Public Policy Forum is the only contest that gives high school students the opportunity to participate in written and oral debates on issues of public policy.

Formerly known as the "National Public Policy Forum," the IPPF was founded in2001. The program began as a national contest, but expanded in 2008 to include debate teams from across the globe.

More than 180 high schools - representing 32 states and 17 foreign countries - registered for the 2008-2009 competition. The field was first narrowed to 32 teams, then to 16, 8, and finally just four. Those final four schools received an all-expense-paid trip to New York City to compete in the finals at New York University the weekend of April 17-19, 2009.

The winner of the 2008-2009 competition, Bellaire High School, was awarded the $10,000 grand prize and the "Bickel & Brewer Cup!"

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I am the Director of the World Debate Institute and the Edwin Lawrence Professor of Forensics, University of Vermont. I teach argumentation, persuasion, debate and related courses. I have: 40+ years experience, taught in 44 countries, trained from 51 countries, managed international conferences, hosted many debate tournaments, published or edited over 50 books, received many national and international awards for debate coaching and training, hosted 480+ television programs, done radio for 17 years, managed many busy websites (debate.uvm.edu), and used virtual reality for debate. At Brown University I was third at the USA National Debate Tournament and second at the USA National Tournament of Champions in 1972.